Garland Of Grace – 06.08.15

“Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15

My wife Sarah is a school teacher, and every fall she recruits me to help her at the “fall-fest” carnival at her school. One year, I ran the “dart and balloon” game. Another year I did some sort of “bean bag basketball” game or something. She has yet to do it, but I am waiting for her to try to recruit me for the dunking booth! Such school festivals and carnivals have always intrigued me, for I find that they reveal what ridiculous creatures we humans really are. For instance, I find it very fascinating how much money is wasted by the children on useless junk. Maybe it is a ticket raffle or a game that calls for them to pay a fee, but they will do that activity over and over again until they finally win some cheap useless toy that is intended to be some sort of a prize. And the irony of it all is the fact that the toy was in all probability purchased at a bulk rate at some dollar store.

Think about that; at such events children spend their every penny to obtain some cheap prize, a prize that will probably break before they even get home with it. And if it does not break, the item will probably find itself in a garage sale within a year. It was a prize that only cost a dollar, but purchased by some naïve child for five dollars.

Now you might feel that I am being a little rough and possibly a little condescending towards children. But it might be good for us to all look in the mirror. May I suggest to you that we adults are not that different? When adults shop, they oftentimes behave like children at a carnival and spend way too much on junk that they do not need in the first place, and they usually pay a lot more than what something is worth. There is no doubt that one of the attributes of man’s sinful nature is the lustful desire for possessions. Value matters not; we simply like to obtain things. We like children, will blow money simply to accumulate more stuff. Now obviously most adults do not see their purchasing habits from this perspective, but it might be good to start seeing things from this light. Oftentimes I will joke with Sarah as we make a purchase of some sort. I’ll say something like, “Yeah, this will be a great dollar item for our summer of 2018 garage sale!” My point is that we buy stuff we really do not need, and stuff that we do not plan to keep.

Do you have too much stuff? If you do, are you aware of the spiritual problems that it can cause? Jesus warned against greed along with any inclination to accumulate possessions. He goes on to say that the value of life is not based in material things. We do live in a material world, and our society is stuffed with stuff, but we do not have to do the same. We are purposefully positioned in the world, but we are positioned in this world to be different than the world, not identical to the world.

Take inventory of your belongings, and see the truth that material possessions have no value whatsoever. Adjust your purchasing habits, and make wise investments. Don’t waste the money God has entrusted you with on needless junk. This life is not to be treated like a game at a carnival. Rather your life is to be an investment in kingdom things.